Position Paper #1
Ivette Medrano Araujo
FMST 325 Ethics in Human Services
Towson University
In 2014 the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) approved a global definition of the social work profession, definition that states that “Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people […] and engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing.” A social worker is a person that will pursue a private practice career in order to serve and help others with their problems; however, it does not mean that the social worker will not face major challenges in their lives
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56), so in fact she may continue to see Chris as his client, but she has to make things clear not only with Chris, but also with Evelyn. There are different views on every social work case, one of the opposing views may be that it is more than unethical to have or establish a personal relationship with the client, for instance what the first 1.03 principle in the Code of Ethics states “Social workers should provide services to clients only in the context of a professional relationship based”, so Teresa may have to establish some personal distance with Evelyn and Chris at least during the case, she may work only on it. According to Dolgoff (2012) “the professional is obligated both to the client and to the profession,” Teresa may not act as a friend or as a best friend’s mother, bur rather as what she is: a social …show more content…
What may be at stake is the personal relationship that Teresa has with the client and the mother of the client. Teresa and Evelyn are close friends, and Chris is Teresa’s son’s best friend; therefore, she will always be in contact with them, she will always see them and both all of them will visit frequently each other’s houses. Even though it is highly suggested that the professional relationship a social worker has with his client may end once the case ends, this won’t apply to Teresa. She has already established a relationship with the people involved. If Teresa follows the ethical principles of Service that states that “social workers draw on their knowledge, values and skills to help people in need to address social problems”, and the principle of Importance of Human Relationships “social workers understand that relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change. Social workers engage people as partners in the helping
Handon, R. M. (2014, December). Client Relationships and Ethical Boundaries for Social Workers in Child Welfare. The New Social Worker, (winter), 1-6.
At the end of the previous school year, Carol, and her daughter’s teachers noticed that Carol’s daughter was not progressing in her studies, and an evaluation conducted by the child study team revealed that she had a specific learning disability. An IEP meeting was scheduled, and conducted. The determination was made to place Carol’s daughter in the same resource room as Carol’s client Jody, for half of the day. Carol instantly realized that this decision put her in a predicament where a dual relationship would be created. She would then cross a clear boundary, and become a parent of a classmate, as well as the professional she has already established herself as to Jody and her parents. This would undoubtedly lead to instances in which both her client, and the client’s family would be interacting with her at both school functions and on class trips. She knew that allowing this to happen was against the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for Behavior Analysts. Carol voiced her opposition and explained the ethical quandary to those attending the IEP meeting, and what would occur if her daughter was placed in the same room with her client. Carol stated that she would speak with her supervisor, but it was probable that he would determine that she would not be able to continue working with Jody. Carol felt that having to become accustomed to another behavior analyst
There is a pressing need for a high level of worker/client boundary identification when working within a client population, however realizing a conflict of interest scenario is vitally important when facing a dual relationship with a client. There are so many issues that are faced by a human service professional, explaining all of them may be difficult. In this field there are issues such as burnout, secondary trauma, compassion satisfaction, dual relationships, and boundary issues. (Reamer, F. (2012). As human services professional or social workers there is a code of ethics. In statement 6 of the code of ethics, it states human services experts must be mindful that in their associations with customers/clients power and status are unequal. Accordingly they distinguish that double or various relationships might build the danger of damage to, or abuse of, customers, and may debilitate their expert judgment. In any case, in a few neighborhoods and circumstances it may not be achievable to escape social or other nonprofessional contact with customers. Human service professional experts...
Interviewing and research skills are needed within the social work profession. Effective communication skills are one of the most crucial components of a social worker’s job. Every day, social workers must communicate with clients to gain information, convey critical information and make important decisions (Zeiger, 2017). This interview experience was an opportunity to explore the daily challenges and rewards of a licensed social worker. I was excited for the opportunity to interview a social worker in the gerontology sector as this is a specialty I am considering. This meeting allowed me to explore the educational steps of being a social worker, practices of the agency, the clients who are served, and the challenges the agency has.
A situation from my practicum where I may experience an ethical dilemma is if I needed to visit a patient I knew. If a patient was identified as potentially having social work needs and I knew them personally it may be uncomfortable for them to discuss sensitive issues, especially if I wasn’t aware of the issues prior to reading their medical history. The patient may not be as honest with me because they wouldn’t want an acquaintance to know about sensitive subjects they are experiencing. The agency requires a social worker to visit patients that lack support, are low-income, have a history of substance use, or a mental illness. Visiting these patients is consistent with the social worker’s responsibility to clients.
Social workers have responsibilities to their clients to respect their privacy, and if the client cannot trust us in that, a rapport will never be form. Social workers must fight for the confidentiality of individuals, including families. Social workers are legally obligated to respect the privacy of their clients, and keep their information away from any third parties (NASW, 2008, p.7-8). Advocating for all those standards, would assure clients that social workers are really looking out for their well-being. When rights are taking away from clients, it’s our job as social worker to take up the necessary role and connect the clients with resources. For example, if a client’s health information has been violated by an insurance it’s our job to connect them to a better
Social work is a profession, which works to empower individuals through a variety of different tactics. They facilitate empowerment in their clients by working with them one on one or in small groups. Advocating for social justice is an ongoing job in social work. Social work is not about fixing people. It is about empowering people to recognize the strengths that they themselves possess.
I have always made this my number one priority. From the time I had my first child, I believed children do not ask to come into this world and it is the parent’s responsibility to take care of them to the best of their ability. In the field of social work we will be faced with many situations and some, I am sure, will cause great anguish. For example, in the news media within this past week social workers have been put on the spot for children being murdered by their parents. One of the parents was a father that had custody of his children with a good job and a good provider. This parent killed all of his children. Did the social worker look at the father and assumed based on his/her values that the children were in safe hands because he had a job and provided for the children? Would the social worker have felt differently about the situation if the parent was living in poverty? It is important not to let my values or personal thoughts get in the way of similar situations and to be alert or a sense of
What does it mean to become a social worker? Why was I committing two years of my life to school after renouncing further education? I asked myself this after I applied, waited anxiously for my acceptance letter and scrambled to figure out the finances after I was accepted. I could not have guessed that the first day of the Micro Human Behavior Social Environment (SWG 510) would capture my attention and thrust me into the professional world of Social Work. As I learned more about what it meant to become a social worker, I found myself aligning to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Ethical Standards as reviewed through Foundation Course I’s first chapters.
Throughout the Social Work Program at Winona State University-Rochester, I have been able to expand my knowledge about what it means to be a social worker. Prior to joining this program, when I thought of a social worker, I thought of someone who is highly motivated, compassionate, supportive, and someone who wants to make a difference in somebody’s life. Although this definition is true, overtime I have been able to expand this definition. Now, they are also someone who builds relationships with clients during what are often their lowest points in their lives and they are a person who often will put others needs before their own. Social workers use their knowledge about maintaining a person’s dignity and worth and rely on skills that help them understand people within their environment, and using their training to help people from all walks of life both on the micro level and the macro level.
Social workers are increasingly recognized as an inevitable part of interdisciplinary teams in addressing the needs of clients who seek for legal remedies and services. The relationship between social work and law has been developing since 1917, when Mary Richmond, an architect of modern social work, acknowledged the role of legal authorities while developing her conceptual model for casework (Forgelson, 1970). Later, Mary Richmond drafted an early social work code of ethics in the early 1920s (Reamer, 1987). However, from the development perspective, all 50 states in the US have passed statutes requiring professionals from certain disciplines, including social work and law, to report any abuse or crime happened in the past or is going to happen in the nearest future if there are good reasons to believe that is true. Dubose and Morris (2005) stated that very few states passed similar mandatory reporting statutes for attorneys. It is not surprising that only a few states accepted these statutes because of the presence of the attorney-client privilege statute, which is true for all states. Due to differences in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and NASW Code of Ethics, professionals from the respective disciplines may have conflicts while both provide social and legal support to the same client from a domestic violence organization. There are two main reasons that allow the tension to happen, social workers are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect but lawyers, on the contrary, have an ethical responsibility to maintain client confidentiality (Taylor, 2006).
It provides guidelines on the standards and explains that social workers must be aware of their limits and not attempt to create any dual relationships with clients. Standard 1.06 (a) requires that client’s rights and interests be protected at all times. It informs that to ensure this, social workers must terminate their professional relationships with clients and engage in the creation of proper referral procedures (Reamer, 2003). Standard 1.06 (b) dictates that social workers must never take unfair advantage of colleagues and should also not exploit them for personal gains in a professional relationship. Standard 1.06 (c) entails no engagement in multiple relationships with clients, especially in situations where potential harm or exploitation may arise (Reamer,
The social work profession and its Code of Ethics dictate that social workers must act in the best interest of the client, even when those actions challenge the practitioner’s personal, cultural and religious values. In practice; however, ethical decision-making is more complex than in theory. As helping professionals, social workers are constantly faced with ethical decision-making or ethical dilemmas. As noted by Banks (2005), an ethical dilemma occurs “when a worker is faced with a choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives that may involve a conflict of moral principles, and it is not clear what choice will be the right one” (as cited in McAuliffe & Chenoweth, 2008, p. 43). In addition, ethical decision-making is a process that
families, and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social workers are change agents and because of that, they aim to help people develop their skills and abilities to use resources provided to them to strengthen and improve their lives and communities to resolve problems. One of the main goal of social workers is to improve the well-being and lives of the most vulnerable populations, fight against poverty, unemployment, domestic violence and the underserviced population by emphasizing on the person-in-environment and social justice model. The social work profession, considerers the individuals’ internal and external struggles, while working with the individuals to examine their relationships, family, work environment, community, and other things that might impact them and identify ways to help address problems and challenges.
The social work profession at the simplest level, is providing service and achieving social justice for our community. There are various ways in which social workers can do this, ranging from simply providing necessary support to getting children out of dangerous situations. I always knew that my calling was to help and advocate for populations in my community that were vulnerable and often forgotten.